World's First Toy Train

[Anonymous]

I came across this while surfing the net and knew I had to share it with you guys! This train is on display at the Bowes Museum in the town of Barnard Castle, County Durham, England.



Here's the description given on their website:

"Train set in painted wood. The sloping track, carriages, engine and tender fit into a box marked "This train belonged to John Pease". He was eldest son of Edward Pease, who was known as the "Father of Railways" of East Mount, Darlington. In 1825 Edward Pease, in collaboration with George Stephenson, provided the first steam train service from Darlington to Stockton. This could be the first toy train set in the world."

This would be the granddaddy of all our toy trains! It even has "track" of a sort and also a "trestle set"! Imagine what this baby would bring in if it ever came up for auction!

[Anonymous]

I always thought that the first toy train was made by Marklin.

[Anonymous]

It was Marklin that came out with the first "real" toy trains as we know them. They were the first company to come up with the idea of building layouts by coming out with tubular sectional track, standardized gauges and a full line of add-on accessories, first unveiled in 1892. Essentially, they invented the hobby of model railroading. However, before these revolutionary products came out, there were a variety of toy trains made out of wood, tin and cast iron that ran on the floor and used human, clockwork or steam power. A few even ran on circular "gutter rail" track. This set could be the world's first toy train in the sense that it may be the first childrens' toy modeled after a train.

[prewardude]

Very, very cool. Sounds like a good subject for a CTT article!

[Anonymous]

Very nice. Unless there was a patent model this could be the first model of a train as well. It seems early enough to be.

Now if only one of the current manufacture / importers would make an early profile engine like this one or the Dewitt Clinton, Rocket or John Bull. I am a fan of these early engines and would love to see some in O. I know that long ago there were static models of the Dewitt Clinton but not much since.

Bachmann has done similar models to these in HO for years. They even made the smart decision to make a model of the first type of mass produced "standardized" engine. The model they released years ago as the Prussian and more recently as the B and O Lafayette is a model that Norris built several copies of and so could be made in different liveries. A similar engine is in the Franklin Science Institute in Philly as well as the reproduction Lafayette in Baltimore and of course the John Bull(s). I have a photo of a similar engine dating from 1843 which after some modernizations and a cab was working a logging railroad years into the early 1900's.

A vertical Boiler would be interesting to see as well. Something like the "Best Friend of Charleston" or the B and O "Tom Thumb" or "Atlantic". Any of these would be really interesting to watch because of the moving parts of the drive system. I wont hold my breath but it would be nice to see one of these someday.

[prewardude]

QUOTE: Originally posted by emmaandy

...A vertical Boiler would be interesting to see as well. Something like the "Best Friend of Charleston" or the B and O "Tom Thumb" or "Atlantic". Any of these would be really interesting to watch because of the moving parts of the drive system. I wont hold my breath but it would be nice to see one of these someday.

Well, Mike Wolf has stated that he would like to produce a model of every locomotive ever made, so... you never know!

[Anonymous]

Beautiful! It has a nice Folk art appeal. Was there any mention of its size? It looks small in the picture.

I don't know about MTH. I'm a little suprised Mike didn't make a Hogwart's express.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, there was no mention of its size.

It would be nice if someone made some models of these early engines in O gauge. Actually, in the prewar years, Marklin made some models of early trains. Sometime before WWI, they came out with a live steam Rocket train set in gauge I for the British market. It had the engine, tender, open animal car with animals, open passenger car with people and covered passenger car. The rolling stock was quite nice, but the engine was grossly oversized (at least twice as big as it should have been in proportion to the cars). It wasn't a very popular seller and is now extremely rare and highly sought-after by collectors. I think there's only two complete sets in existence. Later, in 1935, they made an O gauge model of the Der Adler with cars, to celebrate the centennial of it operating in Germany. This was a much better model (in looks and popularity) and is absolutely gorgeous! Needless to say, it is also very rare and valuable, but not nearly as much as the Rocket set. Also in the mid-30's, Bub made a cheaper tin lithographed model of Der Adler.

There's a prewar Marklin Adler set on the shelves in this picture.

[espeefoamer]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dtpowell

Beautiful! It has a nice Folk art appeal. Was there any mention of its size? It looks small in the picture.

I don't know about MTH. I'm a little suprised Mike didn't make a Hogwart's express.

Probably couldn't get permission from the" Harry Potter" series owners.

[prewardude]

QUOTE: Originally posted by espeefoamer

QUOTE: Originally posted by dtpowell

Beautiful! It has a nice Folk art appeal. Was there any mention of its size? It looks small in the picture.

I don't know about MTH. I'm a little suprised Mike didn't make a Hogwart's express.

Probably couldn't get permission from the" Harry Potter" series owners.

I know there was a Hogwart's Express made in HO (by Bachmann if I recall correctly), so they probably got the exclusive license to make the models. It would be nice to see one in O gauge, though.

[prewardude]

Here's a thought: How about one in Standard gauge? That would be awesome! [:O]

[Anonymous]

A standard gauge Hogwarts express would be Awesome! I think I'd break open the piggy bank! [:D] I'll have to go looking for the "0" gauge Hogwarts. I like to have one if it's a fair representation.

[Anonymous]

Hornby did make a live steam #1 gauge Stephenson's Rocket sometime in the early 80's. MR even did a review of it.

There is a static model of this engine available in 1/26 scale from Minicraft Model Kits. It is kit #11101. The kit even has a short length of the early type of cast rail it rode on for display. I have one on my shelf waiting for a good time to assemble it. I would love to have it in a case with one of the MPC General kits from the eighties and a Minicraft model of the "Tvorchak(sp?)" an early French steam engine with a large gear drive, it was really odd looking. I am not that familiar with the French engine but if you saw the animated movie "Triplettes of Belleville" it was the engine in the dream sequence. These 3 kits of ealy steam engines are all the same scale and nicely detailed but static.